Amer. paper 2

The way in which women and their allies in the 1890's counter the dominant culture's demeaning significations is through the implementation of a college education, romance novels, and a new wave of logical thought.
The first way in which women attempt to liberate themselves is through the attainment of a college education. In Anzia Yezierska's novel Bread Givers, she depicts the story of a poor jewish girl living in the ghetto of New York's lower East Side. She chronicals the struggles that Sara Smolinsky, the main character, must overcome in order to build a life for herself. The novel portrays the hardships that a woman seeking independence must endure in order to liberate herself. In one particular quote of determination, Sara exclaims “I’ll…show them all… [I will] make myself somebody great-and have them come begging favours at my feet” ( Yezierska 155). This quote embodies the attitude that a women must have in order to counter the dominant culture's demeaning significations of females. It exhibits the hardness and stubbornness that a woman must abide by in order to liberate herself. Continually, the novel explains the path in which a woman must under take in order to liberate herself. In the time when this quote occurred, Sara was very upset about the unlikely chance she had at liberating herself “And then it all flashed to me. The story from the Sunday paper. A girl-slaving away in the shop. Her hair was already turning gray, and nothing had ever happened to her. Then suddenly she began to study in the night school, then college. And worked and studied, on and on, till she became a teacher in the schools. A school teacher-I! I say myself sitting back like a lady at my desk, the children, their eyes on me, watching and waiting for me to call out the different ones to the board, to spell a word, or answer me a question. It was like looking up to the top of the highest skyscraper while down in the gutter” (Yezierska 155). This quote portrays the adversity that a woman would have to endure in the 1890's in order to liberate herself. Furthermore, this quote explains the way in which women could liberate themselves without the help of a man.

The next way in which women attempt to liberate themselves is through popular culture. In Amy Kaplan's The Anarchy of Empire in The Making of U.S. Culture, she argues that women are becoming more liberalized as the United States advances into other territories. This liberalization is being portrayed in the romance novels of the time. In one particular quote, Kaplan demonstrates the relationship between the hero (the male) and the heroine (the female). She states “The chivalric
rescue narrative makes him dependent on the liberation and subjugation of the willing heroine, who serves as a composite figure for the New Woman at home and the subjects of the new empire abroad” (Kaplan 95). The argument Kaplan is putting forth here is that the woman is making the choice to let the hero save her, thus she is capable of personal choice and is not the captive of man. This quote demonstrates the way in which women were using print as a form of liberalization. Continually, Kaplan continues on to argue that women have more than the power of choice, they also possess the power of individualism. She contends that “The women who are liberated in these novels have already in a sense saved themselves; by virtue of their love for the hero they have proven themselves ahead of their time. Cast in the role of the New Woman; independent, self-reliant, and adventurous” (Kaplan 107). This quote further argues that the way in which women are liberating themselves is through these writings of heroism. The main argument is that if there is a hero, there must also be an independent heroine.
Another way in which women attempt to liberate themselves is by seeking employment. In Alaine Locke's Enter The New Negro, he affirms that the black population (as well as the female population) in the United States has attempted to gain liberation by populating northern cities in hopes of seeking employment. He contends that “A main change has been, of course, that shifting of the Negro population which has made the Negro problem no longer exclusively or even predominantly Southern. Why should our minds remain sectionalized, when the problem itself no longer is? Then the trend of migration has not only been toward the North and the Central Midwest, but city-ward and to the great centers of industry” (Locke 3). In this quote, Locke is claiming that the Negro is attempting to liberate himself, and thus seek the recognition of his white brethren, by framing a respectable goal for himself. This relates to the way in which women are seeking liberation through employment. Both Negroes and women are pursuing a respectable ambition in the hopes of liberation from a culture that demeans them.
An additional way in which women attempt to liberate themselves is simply through the use of common logic and emotion to sway public perception. This is presented in Alaine Locke's Enter The New Negro as well as James Van Der Zee's Harlem Studio Photographs. Locke attempts to explain the way in which the “New Negro” has used logic when he expresses “The intelligent Negro of today is resolved not to make discrimination an extenuation for his shortcomings in performance, individual or collective; he is trying to hold himself at par, neither inflated by sentimental allowances nor depreciated by current social discounts. For this he must know himself and be known for precisely what he is, and for that reason he welcomes the new scientific rather than the old sentimental interest” (Locke 3). Locke is arguing here that the Negro, as with any oppressed people, is attempting to prove his worth to his oppressors. This can be related to the way in which women attempt to liberate themselves in a demeaning society by using scientific explanation to demonstrate their equality. In addition to that, James Van Der Zee's Harlem Studio Photographs portray the way in which black individuals live in poverty and yet still manage to remain cultured, learned, and respectable. This relates to womens struggle for liberation in that both live in captivity, however both have the capacity to be equal to their captors.
By seeking employment, education, public acceptance, and popular culture; the women and her allies attempt to liberate themselves from their culture's demeaning signification